


Aftermath: A Sonic Forces AU Fanfiction

by SonicWildfire_77



Category: Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comic), Sonic the Hedgehog (Comics), Sonic the Hedgehog (IDW Comics), Sonic the Hedgehog (Video Games), Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: Aftermath of Torture, Alternate Universe, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Blood and Gore, Depression, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Gen, Heart Attacks, Physical Abuse, Post-Sonic Forces, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Post-War, Psychological Torture, Psychological Trauma, Sonic Forces, Suicide Attempt, Suicide Notes, Survivor Guilt, Torture, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-23
Updated: 2019-03-16
Packaged: 2019-11-04 12:11:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 14
Words: 16,138
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17898209
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SonicWildfire_77/pseuds/SonicWildfire_77
Summary: In the immediate aftermath of the War to Take Back The Planet, Sonic's psychological state has taken a monumental blow. As he attempts the long and unforgiving journey back to normalcy, obstacles are around every corner in an effort to hinder his progress. Will Sonic be able to overcome overwhelming odds and defiantly recover from the suffering he underwent throughout the war? Will he give in to the demons within his head? Or will something else come into play?WARNING: CONTAINS SENSITIVE CONTENT; VIEWER DISCRETION IS STRONGLY ADVISED





	1. Prelude

The war was finally over. Eggman’s fiercest quest for world domination yet was halted and he was locked away for good, thanks to the efforts of the Resistance with Sonic joining them in the later stages of the conflict.

Half a year prior, he became a POW aboard a rebuilt Death Egg thanks to a new foe only known by the name of Infinite. Over the subsequent six months, his captors ruthlessly tortured him on a frequent basis. Tactics used included—but were not limited to—white torture (i.e. enclosing Sonic in a room with a white floor, a white ceiling, and white walls as he wore white clothing, including his standard gloves), waterboarding, human branding, electric shocks, and even being cooked to near-death in a brazen bull.

These torture sessions were commonplace and almost weekly until the Resistance successfully conducted a rescue operation and saved Sonic from the jaws of certain death; Eggman had been waiting for his global empire to obtain a decisive death grip on the Earth before banishing Sonic into the realm of the unknown in the deeper reaches of outer space.

Even though Sonic had been acting like his old self after he was freed from what could very easily be described as Hell, he was never his true old self again at heart. He managed to hold it together up to the end of the war. Then the dominoes began to fall.


	2. Three Months After the War

In a city park engorged with lush flora and vibrant greenery, Sonic sat alone in the grass under the beaming sun and a Carolina blue sky with very few clouds. It’s been three months since the war ended (four months since he was freed from the Death Egg), yet he still hasn’t been able to shake off the effects of his imprisonment.

If one were to closely examine Sonic at this point, they would be able to witness him shivering in anticipation of  _something_ ; that something, not even he knew what it was. In the immediate days and weeks following the end of the war he suffered from nightmares, had become more irritable, and was far more emotionally detached. Activities that he once enjoyed doing were no longer as interesting. He had isolated himself more than ever before.

Sonic was completely lost in his own thoughts when an old friend walked up and sat beside him. It was none other than Tails, the brotherly figure that had been looking up to him for the longest time, who allegedly “lost it” after Sonic’s capture. Although Sonic’s absence had resulted in more sleepless nights, Tails was completely fine otherwise.

“Hey, Sonic,” Tails spoke softly after a brief period of silence. He didn’t answer back, which was unusual to the double-tailed fox; Sonic would almost certainly never ignore a friend like that.

He uttered the same thing again, a bit louder this time; not loud enough to be considered yelling, but enough to be considered slightly above a normal speaking volume.

“Huh?” Sonic’s head perked up and turned towards the source of the sound. As he saw it was his old buddy, he was able to muster a grin and waved softly.

“What’s up, little buddy?” Sonic inquired. “Something going on?”

“Not so much of what’s going on with me,” Tails replied. “More of what’s going on with you. You haven't… been yourself for quite a while.”

“What makes you think that? Are my quills beginning to lose color?” Sonic jested, partially dodging Tails’ suspicion.

Tails chuckled briefly before answering.

“No, it isn’t that. I’ve just noticed you’ve been a lot more—in my belief, anyway—secluded.”

Sonic looked down toward the ground and began fidgeting, growing wary of his friend’s concerns. Never in a million years would he admit there was something terribly wrong with him; it would simply worry his peers sick so it was better to keep to himself rather than pass on the negativity to others, he thought.

“Well…” Sonic faltered. There were a thousand words swirling around in his head, but couldn’t articulate any of them into a reply. After a few seconds, he simply made an incoherent sound and turned his back.

“Knuckles and Amy said they’ve noticed the same thing with you,” Tails continued. “You’ve been eating far less and becoming less sociable. You’re becoming more like Shadow with every passing day.”

Sonic grumbled unintelligibly. He  _hated_  being compared to his arch-rival, especially for negative traits.

“Just come clean,” Tails implored. “Has…it been bothering you?”

That sentence lit a fuse in Sonic’s mind. He knew what Tails meant by “it.”

“No, not at all!” Sonic quickly retorted before he even knew he had said it. “Don’t worry one bit, little bro; everything is A-OK,” he added, feigning a cheery smile.

Tails could tell Sonic was growing increasingly apprehensive. He was incredibly concerned for Sonic’s well-being, but he didn’t want to push the subject either.

“If you say so,” Tails finally muttered, giving Sonic a tiny grin. “I’m gonna rendezvous with the others at the plaza about ten minutes up ahead. If you need me, just speed on over.”

“Will do,” Sonic obliged. With that, the orange fox began to use his two tails as propellers and flew off towards the plaza.

The entire time, however, Sonic was barely able to keep a cool head. The war had taken a severe toll on him, physically and psychologically. He was no longer as strong as he was before; he could still pack quite a punch, but not as much as he could prior. His mental state had grown progressively worse, too; after the conflict, Sonic had spiraled into a deep depression, which explained why he was less sociable with the others after the war ended.

Sonic immediately sprang up and blazed down the street. In no more than fifteen seconds, he reached his house. It was octagonal in shape, and appeared to be partially damaged by shrapnel during battle. It still had a roof, however, and that was good enough for Sonic. He tested the door handle and, sure enough, it was unlocked. He let himself inside and softly shut the door behind him.

While the exterior of the house looked run down, the interior was anything but. Enclosed by the eight walls of the house was a living room with four couches surrounding a dusty television set. A small flight of stairs led to a single bedroom with a bed just big enough for Sonic to sleep on, as well as a lamp with a green lampshade perched upon an oak wood nightstand. The light was already turned on, and it looked like it had been on for a while now.

Sonic trudged upstairs and sat down on the foot of the bed. While he never liked to think about his experiences aboard the Death Egg, he couldn’t help it this time. Slowly, but surely, the thoughts began to become intrusive. He shut his eyes to try and block them out, but to no avail. He shut his eyes tighter and tighter, but his efforts were futile.

All those lives that he couldn’t save during his imprisonment. All the destruction he could have prevented if he wasn’t held hostage. All this would have never happened if he had fought harder, he thought to himself. The words of his adversaries rang crystal clear in his head.

_“Foolish hedgehog. Getting out of your chains does not make you free.”_

_“You’re not even worth the effort to finish off.”_

_“You reek of fear. Glad to see I left an impression.”_

Sonic draped a blanket over his head, but the taunting persisted. He wasn’t even safe from his own words; once directed toward his enemies, now returning to get under his skin.

_“Your mask can’t hide how sad and lonely you are!”_

At last, Sonic couldn’t take any more. With a blood curdling screech, he scrambled towards and picked up the lamp from the nightstand, reared up, and flung it across the room, shattering the bulb into oblivion and sending the lampshade flying in another direction.

Sonic flopped back onto the bed, face down with tears streaming along the sides of his face.  _‘They were right,’_  he thought to himself.  _‘They were **right**.’_

Sonic buried his face deep into the pillow to stifle his crying. He wasn’t making a single sound, yet he felt like shouting until his lungs vaporized.

It took a grueling forty minutes, but he finally rolls himself onto his back and wipes away the waterfall of tears from both sides of his face. The pain he had endured back on the Death Egg was bad enough, but the worst part of it all was the effect his jailing had on the world: lives lost, landmarks destroyed, hopes dashed; all because he got himself locked away from the world when the planet needed him most after he picked a fight against a jackal and lost.

Fueled by blind rage, he raced downstairs, bolted out the door, and barreled for the plaza. Aside from his friends, nobody was there. Tails, Amy, Knuckles, Shadow, and Silver were all present. He quickly reached at the plaza, as the others turned their heads at the unexpected arrival.

Sonic said nothing as he simply knelt and covered his face with his hands. Amy was the first to react, meandering over to the blue hedgehog and draping an arm around his shoulder without a word. The rest followed suit, trying their best to console the blue hero.


	3. Six Months After the War

Sonic was sitting in his living room, feeling incredibly melancholy. Ever since the meltdown, Sonic had experienced repeated sudden mood swings, restless sleep, and has been more physically fatigued. He knew he had to remain calm, but he also knew from experience that was an onerous task.

It wasn’t long before the azure rodent heard a knock on the door.

“Come in,” Sonic invited the unknown guest without so much as looking over his shoulder.

The guest let themselves in; it was Knuckles. The red echidna wordlessly set a coffee mug on the table adjacent to Sonic’s couch before he sat himself down on a couch opposite of Sonic.

“Where are the others?” Sonic asked.

With a moment’s hesitation, Knuckles answered, “They’re running a bit late, but they should be here soon.”

He took a sip of his own drink and slowly put it back down before he sloped his shoulders and gazed at the limestone floor beneath his feet. Sonic noticed that Knuckles was enervated; his once brilliant dark orchid eyes had dulled to an uninteresting plum, he was far more pale, and the white streak across his chest had begun to turn grey.

“Whatcha thinkin’ about, Knux? Someone lay a finger on the Master Emerald?” Sonic jested.

Knuckles suppressed a laugh at the unexpected inquiry. Even in his dire mood, Sonic still had some esprit. That was always something Knuckles could count on, aside from his inordinate amount of hubris.

“We wanted to check in and touch base to see how you’re handling things,” Knuckles told Sonic, brushing aside the hedgehog’s previous question.

“Don’t worry about me, dude,” Sonic quickly riposted, the words coming out harsher than he meant them to be. He hesitated for a moment, feeling bad about how that last sentence came out of his mouth.

With a sigh, Sonic apologized and stated, “It’s just…I’m doing alright. There’s really no need to think about me. I’ll be fine. I think it’s more important that you focus on yourself.”

Knuckles saw right through his falsification. Sonic was smirking, but his legs were trembling as he subtly and impatiently tapped his foot and his pointy ears, once standing on his head as sturdy as oak trees, had now sagged.

“You look bad, man,” the echidna insisted. “You’re anything but fine.”

The accusation vexed Sonic. His forehead corrugated and his eyes narrowed, nearly hissing at the prototherian as he clenched his teeth together.

“I know how you feel,” Knuckles continued slowly. “I’m dealing with the same type of feelings. No need to be bashful about it.”

Sonic felt slightly reassured, but quickly began to wallow in his own thoughts again.  _‘I shouldn’t be relying on others for comfort,’_  Sonic angrily thought to himself.  _‘You know who does that? Cowardly pieces of shit.’_

The hedgehog repeated these words under his breath. As he repeated it a fourth time, Knuckles heard it. He began to speak, but Sonic steadily raised his voice and the echidna kept quiet. Eventually, his mumbling turned into yelling. It was at this point Knuckles tried to intervene.

“Sonic, is everything alright?” he asked, truly beginning to worry.

“It’s the same thing with me every day! I have no right to calm down!” Sonic retaliated.

Knuckles tried to say something else—anything else—but Sonic’s rampage was so fierce he couldn’t roll the words off his tongue. He was pissed. At last, Sonic practically went postal.

“What kind of maniac am I?!” Sonic roared, twice slamming his fists onto the table. He immediately looked up and realized that, in his episode of blind rage, he forgot that he had company. The rodent instantly felt shame for his actions and denounced himself harshly. He picked up his coffee mug, drank the rest of the coffee inside, and then furiously hurled the mug at the back wall, splintering it.

All the while, the auburn-quilled monotreme sat motionless trying to process what had just happened. It was then that he heard a knock at the door. It was the others, he had figured.

“Give us just a moment!” Knuckles bellowed. He quickly maneuvered over to the couch Sonic was sitting on, trying to console him.

“It’s okay,” the echidna whispered softly. “You’re okay. It’s all right.”

After a few seconds, Sonic, still slightly ticked, let out a long drawn-out sigh as he rubbed his eyes.

“Alright, you can come in now,” Knuckles yelled to the door.

Tails, Amy, Shadow, and Silver filed into the house. Judging by the looks on their faces, Knuckles thought, they had probably heard the commotion. Sonic turned towards the others and lowered his eyelids in chagrin.

“…I’m… uh… I’m s-sorry…” he managed to stammer.

“For what?” susurrated Amy and Tails simultaneously.

Sonic’s ears drooped and he, without answering the question, lowered his head as he clenched his hands together and rested his forearms on his thighs. In a despondent manner, he stared down at his bright red sneakers.

Silver walked over to the couch where Sonic was sitting, sat himself down next to the blue blur, and put a hand on his shoulder in an attempt to reassure him. Shadow walked over to the couch and stood behind the two, standing akimbo and looking down upon the limestone floor.

“I’ve failed you,” insinuated Sonic.

“Failed? Sonic, what on Earth are you talking about?” exclaimed Amy.

“I’ve lost all motivation to do anything, no matter how much I want to do it. I’ve been missing out on sleep thanks to…”

Sonic faltered as he felt his throat constrict again. He didn’t want to outright say he was experiencing night terrors. ‘What will they think of me if I say that?’ he thought.

“…outlying factors, if you will.” asserted Sonic.

“Sonic, we kn—” Silver began, but was interrupted.

“Fine, I’ll get to the point.” Sonic took a deep breath, trying not to tear up.

“I phrased the answer to the first question wrongly. What I meant to say was that I’m a failure.”

The others were appalled. They had a thousand words swirling in their heads, but neither could choke out a single one.

“Twenty-seven years, guys.  _Twenty-seven fucking years_. That’s how long I’ve been fighting to keep this world safe, but it never stays that way. Every time I defeat Eggman, I should’ve been beating him to death. But, no, I just have to keep him alive for the sheer thrill of stopping him. Now it’s beginning to all catch up with me. Why didn’t I rid him once and for all when I had numerous chances to do so? I’m a fool, guys.”

Sonic began tearing up and he felt a lump growing in his throat. The silence persisted. Nobody knew what to say.

Continuing his rant, Sonic vented. “It’s my own dumb decisions that gets everybody else into trouble. Not putting the fake Chaos Emerald into the Eclipse Cannon before going to save Amy so we could have avoided the entire thing with the giant lizard. Being careless in my super state and getting captured because of it, subsequently tearing the planet into pieces.  _ **Nearly losing my closest friend**  because of my dimwitted ways_ back on the Lost Hex.”

Everybody was intently listening now. Even Shadow, who had been relatively indifferent up to this point, was now bewildered by the words coming out of the blue hedgehog’s mouth; him, of all people.

“I don’t deserve any of you as friends. I don’t deserve your respect. I don’t deserve anything from you guys. The majority of you all have nearly been  **killed** because of my actions. I am completely selfish.”

Sonic had been rambling for a while, but the others still knew better than to speak up now. Tails sat on the couch next to Sonic and Silver. Amy sat on the opposite couch next to Knuckles. Shadow remained standing behind Sonic’s couch. Sonic knew this and, thanks to his experiences while incarcerated aboard the Death Egg, interpreted this as a threatening move. As Shadow saw Sonic arch his back, however, he stepped out from behind the couch and sat next to Amy and Knuckles.

Sonic continued his emotional tirade for another five minutes before he finally fell silent.

“Why can’t things just go back to normal, like they’ve always been?” Sonic sadly pondered.

The room was now silent enough that you could hear a fly’s wings flap. Everybody was aghast while reflecting on what the cobalt hedgehog had just told them.

Finally, Shadow piped up. “Did you need advice or did you just need to vent?”

“Both,” Sonic whimpered.

There was yet another brief period of silence.

“Sonic…” Knuckles admitted. “If I’m being honest, I can’t truly understand how you’re feeling, but I want to help.”

“…I know exactly how he feels,” Shadow acknowledged. “After the whole incident with the Black Arms, I swore to myself that I’d put the past behind me. But… it still haunts me to this day. No matter how hard I try, I can never seem to elude it.”

Silver echoed the ebony hedgehog’s statements, emphasizing how his constant duty of keeping his future bright was near-impossible to do, with or without massive stress.

“But what’s important to know, Sonic, is that as we’ve done so much for you, you’ve done so much for us. If the world’s not destroyed, then that must mean you’ve succeeded in your efforts.”

“Sonic… you matter to us.” Tails emphasized. “We’re here for you. That’s what friends are for. I know it probably doesn’t help much, but we just wanted you to know that.”

“It’s okay to feel this way,” Amy added. “You make such a great impact on our lives that it would be stupid of us to abandon you now. We know how much your—”

Amy stopped. She didn’t want to mention Sonic’s 6-month hostage crisis to him, fearing he may become paranoid and panic. Clearing her throat, she resumed.

“We know what’s been happening over the past year. You aren’t weak for having feelings you have no control over. We care.”

Those two words pierced Sonic’s heart like an arrow.

‘We care.’

The blue blur wiped away a tear welling in the corner of his eye.

“I don’t know what to say…” Sonic breathed. “…Thank you. You all are too kind.”

Tails embraced Sonic in a brief hug before the blue hedgehog turned back towards Knuckles.

“What were you all coming here for anyway?” he contemplated.

“It’s been a while since we’ve actually seen each other,” Knuckles proclaimed, “so we all thought maybe we’d head on over here and catch up.”

Sonic simpered. “I suppose we’ve already done all that over the past five minutes.”

He guffawed at his own answer and everybody else, save for Shadow, did so too.


	4. One Year After the War

“Welcome, Sonic. Glad you could make it to your funeral!”

It was a bright, sunny day in Metropolis. Sonic had arrived on one of the rooftops to confront Dr. Eggman. By the hedgehog’s side was the two-tailed canid and his oldest friend—Tails—and accompanying the doctor were his two robot servants Orbot and Cubot, and Infinite.

“Infinite, do it!” Eggman commanded the jackal.

“Take this!” Infinite exclaimed, materializing a portal in mid-air as he backed away from the swirling vortex.

“That, my spiky little frenemy, is null space,” Eggman informed Sonic.

“Null space?” he interrogated, motioning for Tails to keep his distance.

“It’s a little something that the Phantom Ruby cooked up, a closed-off space where absolutely nothing exists! Goodbye, Sonic, my soon-to-be-eradicated nemesis. Enjoy all the nothing!”

As Eggman finished speaking, the portal swelled and the vortex began to suck Sonic in. No problem, he thought. He knew that Gadget—the rookie wolf that had been assisting him throughout the war—would be sucked in as well, giving Sonic the opportunity to escape with a Double Boost.

But nothing grabbed his arm. Sonic was going to be sucked in. Alone.

Suddenly, Sonic shrieked as he woke up in the safety of his own bed. He had broken into a cold sweat and his heart was aggressively palpitating. He could almost feel it launching itself out of his chest.

Still trembling from the nightmare, Sonic reluctantly ambled out of bed, out of the house, and down the street for twenty minutes to reach Amy’s place of abode. It was 2:45 AM, but he knocked on the door regardless. Luckily for him the fuchsia hedgehog was still up, reading a book. After a moment she got up, walked over, and opened the door.

“I’m really sorry to do this right now, but I just had a really bad night terror related to… you know…” explained Sonic.

“That’s okay.” Amy spoke with solace. “Did you want to crash on my couch for the night?”

Sonic responded affirmatively and thanked Amy for her altruism. She then went to fetch him a blanket. In a couple minutes she returned with a spare wool blanket, draping it over Sonic.

“I also kind of wanted to talk.” Sonic said tentatively.

“Are you sure?” Amy asked, setting her book aside. “You look really tired; I think it’d be best if you got some sleep. Perhaps we could talk tomorrow?”

Sonic mulled it over for a moment before he agreed with her. Amy continued reading as Sonic’s eyes closed and sleep overtook him.

* * *

The next morning, Sonic woke up in another cold sweat. This time, though, he wasn’t exactly sure why; he didn’t have another nightmare, so why was he sweating? The cerulean hedgehog slowly rose from the couch and saw Amy sitting at a table in the kitchen across the hallway, a cup of what appeared to be tea in her hand. Sonic, still wrapped in a blanket, sauntered into the room.

“Morning, Ames,” he buzzed.

“Good morning,” Amy yawned. “I guess we’re both up pretty early, huh?”

Sonic looked up at a clock on a wall somewhere in the room. 6:30 AM, it read.

“Wow,” he laughed, scratching the back of his head. “I didn’t even know it was this early.”

Amy chortled. “Hey, didn’t you tell me you wanted to talk about something last night?”

“Oh, yeah,” Sonic answered. “I did.”

“What was it about?”

Sonic’s mind went blank. He completely forgot.

“Uhh…”

“It’s okay if you don’t remember,” Amy assured him. “You can tell me if you remember later.”

“Alright,” Sonic admitted.

It was actually quite a while since Sonic had eaten; he ran on empty all of yesterday and skipped breakfast and lunch the day before that. He was ravenously hungry and was about to ask if Amy minded that he went to grab something to satisfy his hunger.

“I was planning on meeting up with Silver for breakfast this morning,” she said. “Wanna tag along?”

He chuckled. “Amy, you can read my mind. I’ve been starving for something to eat.”

* * *

Two hours later, the small array of hedgehogs were sitting at a booth in a small restaurant. It was practically empty, save for a few elderly patrons who paid the three no mind.

“So, what’s been going on lately with everyone?” Silver queried.

“Sonic slept over at my house last night because he was having night terrors,” Amy informed the argent hedgehog. “He also said that he wanted to talk about something, but he forgot what he wanted to talk about.”

“Now that you mention it,” Sonic butted in, “I do remember what I wanted to talk about.”

Amy and Silver both set down their forks and listened intently.

“It’s something that’s been bothering me quite a bit for a while now. Survivor’s guilt, I think they call it. Y’know how in movies, when someone survives a disaster or something, they’ll sometimes ask themselves why they lived when others didn’t? That’s what I’ve been going through. I never really felt the need to bring it up until now; I just thought it was normal until recently.”

“What do you mean by ‘you thought it was normal’?” said a perplexed Amy.

“I mean…I thought maybe it was just one of those things that naturally happened after an event like the war,” Sonic mused. “Other than craving chili dogs, of course …heh heh…”

Silver grinned at Sonic’s joke, covering his mouth as he tried to hold in his laughter.

“…But really,” the blue hedgehog continued with a faint smile, “I think a lot of it ties into the whole torture thing with the Death Egg…”

Sonic momentarily floundered.

“Sorry, I’m… still not used to saying… that…” he stumbled.

“Oh no, take as much time as you need,” insisted Amy. “We’re not in any rush.”

Sonic breathed a huge sigh. “Listen… I understand this is really not something you guys want to listen to right now, so I guess I should just zip it until Amy and I return home…”

“Now why the hell would we want you to do that, Sonic?” Silver blurted out before quickly realizing what he had just said. Luckily the few other patrons that had been there were already gone. Other than the three of them, the place was completely empty.

He apologized. “Pardon my language. I meant to say that… sure, it might not be something we want to listen to but it’s something we  _need_  to listen to.”

Then Silver came up with an idea.

“Hey, Amy, do you mind if Sonic and I step outside for a moment?”

“Not at all,” she admitted.

The two male hedgehogs got up and filed out the front door into the parking lot. It was a windless morning and somewhat chilly. Clouds rolled through the area, but no sign of an imminent storm.

“There’s something that Amy and I have been meaning to tell you for months now,” Silver confessed.

Sonic’s eyes ballooned. “Which is…?”

“Survivor’s guilt, PTSD, depression—you said you’ve been suffering from these, right?” Silver asked.

Sonic wordlessly nodded his head in response.

“Well, we’ve all been going through the same,” Silver revealed. “You’re in the same boat as everybody else: me, Knuckles, Shadow, Amy—heck, even Tails—we’re all dealing with the same devils.”

Sonic was thunderstruck. He was completely frozen in disbelief, unable to speak. His eyes were as big as watermelons and his mouth gaped open.

“Do you remember the rookie, Sonic? The wolf that accompanied you during some of the missions during the war?”

Sonic nodded. “Yes,” he confirmed.

“He’s been done a great deal of pain, too. Last we heard, he was residing in Station Square. We don’t know anything else about what he’s been up to beyond that.”

Sonic slowly lowered his head. “Now I just feel bad.”

“For what?”

“For not knowing. If I had known you guys were feeling blue, I would’ve sacrificed a lot of my time to help you guys feel better. That’s my fault for not knowing. I should be less ignorant about these sorts of things.”

“No, no, no! It’s completely fine!” Silver quickly assured the blue hero, raising both hands in the air with his palms facing away from himself. “You did nothing wrong. I’m just saying that everybody’s been having a rough time; you aren’t alone, that’s all.”

Sonic took a deep breath. “I know that, it’s just…it’s been nearly three decades that I’ve been in a chronic state of  _altschmerz_ —always gnawing away at the same old shortcomings, the same old insecurities—and the world has gotten significantly greyer for me since my capture. I’m no longer the person I used to be, Silver. And I fear I’ll never figure it all out before our time is up. I’m scared I may never find my way.”

Silver placed his hands on Sonic’s shoulders.

“Sonic…you’ve never let negativity bog you down before—not to this extent, anyway. While I’ll admit I don’t fully understand how you’re feeling, I want to at least try. I know there’s still a part of you that’s reminiscent of who you were; I can feel it. And you’re 15 years old, man; you’ve still got your entire life ahead of you. Your friends have stuck with you through thick and thin, just like you’ve done the same for them.”

A ray of hope flashed before Sonic’s eyes.

“We’re going to make it, alright? I promise you, we’ll figure this out.”

At this point, Sonic was trying his absolute hardest not to bawl. His lips quivered, he clenched his teeth, he shut his eyes as tight as he could while tears poured down the sides of his face. He was breathing heavily, stifling any sound he might make.

“We’re all pulling for you, Sonic. Don’t ever forget that.”

Finally, Amy had walked out the front door of the restaurant and saw Silver embracing Sonic in a bear hug, patting him softly on the upper back as the blue hedgehog quietly wept on the other’s shoulder.

“I told him everything.” Silver immediately said to Amy.

“You told him  _everything_?”

“Yes, Amy. Everything.”


	5. One Year And Two Months After the War

“So, you said he lives in Station Square now?” Sonic reiterated.

“That’s right,” affirmed Silver.

Sonic, Silver, Amy, and Knuckles were sitting under a grove of acacia trees at the city park. For two months, they had pinpointed the rookie’s location to a tee.

“The census here says that the wolf lives in an apartment complex located near city hall,” Knuckles read off the paper copy they managed to get ahold of.

Silver grabbed the census report from Knuckles’ hands and scanned the paper with his eyes.

“Let’s see… address… ‘1999 Park Avenue… floor 6, room B87,’” Silver read slowly, making sure he was reading the correct address.

“How long would it take to get there?” asked Amy.

“About… three, maybe four hours by train?” Knuckles said, uncertain of his answer.

“Pfft, I could get there faster on foot!” boasted Sonic. “I’d be there in almost no time at all.”

While Sonic snickered at his own comment, Amy noticed something.

“Wait,” she asked. “What about Shadow? Where did he go?”

“Oh, he said he was too busy with other affairs to join us,” Sonic replied. “Then again, he’s always too busy to spend time around us, heh.”

“So, we leave at sundown?” the pink hedgehog iterated.

“That’s the plan,” Silver confirmed.

* * *

As the sun began to set over the horizon, the quartet set out on foot to Station Square to meet their buddy. Within 40 minutes, they had arrived at the apartment building. As they entered through the front door, the receptionist looked up and greeted them.

“Welcome to Sunset Heights, how may I help you?” she asked in a friendly voice, an inviting smile on her face.

“We’re friends of the resident in room B87 on the sixth floor of the building,” Sonic informed her. “We’d like to visit them.”

“Sure thing,” the receptionist said, and directed them toward an elevator shoehorned in between two concrete benches.

They rode the elevator up to the sixth floor and found room B87.

“It’s Knuckles,” the echidna said as he knocked twice on the door.

“Come in,” a gruff voice on the other side of the door answered.

The four let themselves in and, sure enough, it was him: the rookie. He looked the same way, too; dark tan skin and scarlet fur. His two fangs protruded from the corners of his closed mouth. He had burnt orange eyes and wore green and white gloves and boots adorned with a single black symbol resembling an arrow head. He donned large, black, broad-rimmed glasses. His earpiece was set on the table in front of him, and his Wispon was nowhere to be seen.

“You know who we are, right?” Sonic asked the canine.

“Aren’t you those guys from the Resistance?” the wolf groggily countered.

Everybody’s eyes lit up.

“Yeah!” Amy exclaimed. “And you’re the rookie, right?”

“I vaguely remember something like that, but I’m not sure. Everybody here calls me Gadget, though, so I just go with that,” he says.

“Really?” Silver said. “I didn’t know that…”

“You shouldn’t,” Gadget shot back. “I never told anybody my real name, and I’m not about to start now.”

It’s clear that Gadget had been pretty moody before their arrival; there were bags under his eyes, one ear stood tall while the other was floppy, and his forehead was scrunched up as if he were subtly daring whomever he crossed paths with to back off.

“What are you all here for anyway? I don’t trust the lot of you to stay if you’re harboring ill intentions,” he mused.

Sonic and Amy looked at each other, nodded, and then laid their eyes upon Gadget, with the cobalt hero taking a deep breath.

“We’ve been looking around for fourteen months to find you,” Sonic commenced. “We just wanted to catch up on some…important stuff.”

Gadget raised an eyebrow. “Important? What could possibly be so important about this visit?” he wondered.

Silver sat next to the erubescent-furred carnivore and draped an arm around his shoulder, eliciting a yelp from the wolf as the psychokinetic hedgehog jerked his arm back.

“Oh…uhm, I’m…uh…I’m sorry,” Silver spoke haltingly.

He received no answer from Gadget. The already agitated canine had now backed himself into a corner of the couch and rolled himself into a ball, now neurotic and acting circumspect.

“Hey, simmer down now!” Knuckles attempted to persuade Gadget. He began to amble towards him, but Sonic quickly outstretched an arm in front of the echidna’s path, clotheslining him.

“Dude, don’t walk towards him like that!” Sonic scolded the monotreme. “Just give him some space.”

After a minute, the wolf slowly exhaled as he scooched back toward Silver on the couch.

“That’s my fault,” Gadget claimed. “That was just unexpected to me and it reminded me too much of…”

The wolf froze. He didn’t finish his sentence.

“That’s okay,” Amy assured him. “We actually might’ve gotten the answer to the big question we wanted to ask you thanks to that.”

“Gadget,” Sonic inquired, “we heard that PTSD, depression, and…what was it, again…survivor’s guilt has been giving you a hard time for a while now. Is this true?”

“Why do you want to know?” the canine answered defensively.

“We’re…just curious…” Silver responded.

The wolf anxiously gulped. “…Yes, it has.”

Sonic walked over and sat on a neighboring third of the couch next to Gadget.

“We wanted to ask you because we’re all in the same boat. We’ve been suffering from it, too.”

Gadget’s pupils swelled in disbelief. “I’m not alone?” he exclaimed.

“You’re not alone,” Amy confirmed to the canid. “Me, Knuckles, Tails—even Sonic—we’ve all been having to deal with this.”

Tears welled in Gadget’s eyes. He immediately went for Sonic and embraced him, with the sapphire hedgehog returning the favor as they cradled each other. Finally, Gadget let go and wiped the tears from his face.

“Oh, thank Chaos,” he said gleefully. “This is the best I’ve felt ever since the war.”

“How long ago was the w—” Knuckles began to ask, but stopped himself after he realized it’s been fourteen months and mentally kicked himself for being thick-skulled again.

“It’s only been a year and a couple months, Knucklehead,” bantered Sonic. “You’re really falling behind on the times, old man.”

“I’m not old,” the echidna grumbled. “I’m just a blockhead sometimes, that’s all.”

Gadget chuckled, then stated, “It’s good to see that none of you have changed much since the last time we saw each other.”

The room exchanged giggles and fell silent momentarily.

“What’s life been like for you since we last met?” Silver asked.

Gadget answered, “Well, I have a hard time trusting people now. I consider it a miracle if I get through a single day without bawling my eyes out. Night terrors are common. That stuff.”

“Same here,” Sonic replied, showing solidarity.

“But I think the biggest part of all this,” Gadget continued, “is my first encounter with Infinite. Before I joined the Resistance. The Eggman Empire was taking the city and Infinite wiped out all of our soldiers except for me. He only let me live so he could relish in my screams of terror as I fled. But why did he choose to let me live? Why did I survive when everybody else didn’t? Why did Infinite spare me?”

All the while, Silver began to feel a sensation that filled him with dread. For him, it was all too familiar. He was beginning to remember his fight with Infinite. The fight that nearly killed him. The fight that would have killed him had Sonic not interrupted. That fight.

“No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, NO,  _NO, NO, **NO!**_ ” he thought to himself as he clenched his teeth and aggressively pressed both hands against his temples. He began pacing and his body was shivering violently. His fits of panic inadvertently activated his psychokinesis to pick up whatever object he was looking at; in this case, that object happened to be Gadget’s earpiece.

Sonic noticed and rushed to his friend’s side, putting his hands on Silver’s shoulders and shaking him.

“Is everything okay, Silver?” he frantically interrogated. “Snap out of it!”

The sensation went away just as quickly as it came. Gadget’s earpiece dropped harmlessly back onto the table and Silver was breathing heavily in an attempt to calm himself down. He used his arm to mop a puddle of sweat off his forehead.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Silver replied, in between breaths. “Just…would it be okay if I could step out into the hallway for a minute or two?”

“Sure, but do you want someone to accompany you?” quizzed Amy.

“No, I think I’m fine going alone,” the psychokinetic rodent affirmed. With that, Silver hastily slipped into the hallway, shutting the door behind him.

“Do you ever experience stuff like that, too?” Knuckles asked.

“Not as much as you would think, but it does happen,” Gadget said.

At this point, Sonic peered out the window to gauge what time it was. A crescent moon was above the horizon, stars sparkled across the ebony of the night welkin.

“Oh, shoot, it’s later than we expected,” he exclaimed.

“I suppose we just lost track of time,” surmised Amy. “What do we do now?”

“Ehm…to tell you the truth, the talk we just had really horrified me,” Gadget piped up. “I’d be really paranoid now if I were to fall asleep by myself. Do you reckon you could at least stay overnight? I know it’s asking a bit much, but…”

Sonic and Knuckles looked at each other and grinned. They both turned towards Gadget.

“Honestly? We were about to ask the same thing,” Sonic confessed.

With that, the quintet set up shop on where they would rest for the night. Gadget would sleep in his own bed, Sonic would sleep on the couch directly behind the table, Amy would sleep on an adjacent couch, Silver would sleep in a reclining chair next to Sonic, and Knuckles would sleep on the floor near the staircase leading to the upstairs bedroom.

At around 10 PM, they turned out the lights and went to sleep.

* * *

Sonic awoke to find himself in a dark chamber, unable to see a thing in the pitch-black cell. His legs were shackled to nearby eyebolts on the floor as a Posey belt encircled his torso and arms. He was able to discern a faint metallic taste in his mouth as blood. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness and he looked around the room, he saw Tails, Knuckles, Amy, and Gadget in the same chamber as he was, bound to what appeared to be leather chairs. As he looked down, he noticed that he was badly bruised, slashed, and a chunk of flesh was missing from the inside of his left thigh. He, too, was being restrained to a chair. Looking back up, he heard a familiar voice in a familiar drawl: Dr. Eggman, cackling maniacally as he turned to face the five prisoners.

“I hoped you all enjoyed getting hamstrung!” he boomed, a branding iron in hand.

Sonic tried to wiggle his legs, but they remained completely motionless. He was practically paralyzed from the waist down. His teeth began to chatter as each individual spike stood on end, giving his quills a messy appearance.

“Oh? It appears a certain  ** _someone_**  is getting a  _wee bit nervous_ ,” Eggman taunted, roaring with laughter immediately following. “Don’t fret, you blue menace,  _I’ll be gentle!_ ”

His body began to shiver as much as it could while strapped to the chair. Suddenly, his four comrades had their chairs reclined back to the point where they became boards instead of chairs. Four additional foes emerged from the darkness: Metal Sonic approached Amy, Zavok approached Knuckles, Infinite approached Gadget, and Chaos approached Tails.

One by one, each torture session commenced; Metal Sonic repeatedly gave Amy electric shocks. Zavok freed Knuckles’ limbs from the restraints so he could use his bare hands to slowly bend them the wrong way until they snapped like twigs. Infinite used the Phantom Ruby to create a large stone slab over Gadget before the jackal brought the slab down onto the wolf’s body, crushing him. Chaos simply gave Tails a slow, agonizing waterboarding.

For what felt like an eternity, Sonic was forced to watch his friends suffer before Eggman cleared his throat and approached the hedgehog. In one hand was a lit match, and in the other was a branding iron.

“Hold still, rat,” the doctor growled as he brought the iron to the lit match. “This will only sting for a moment.”

He took the hot end of the branding iron and pressed it against Sonic’s most vulnerable spot: the chunk of exposed flesh from the inside of his left thigh. Sonic screeched as the burn of the iron pulsated throughout his body and almost literally melted away the flesh. Eggman removed the iron from his thigh, with Sonic already in excruciating pain.

“That was just to soften you up.  _Now_ , it’s time to meet your doom!”

The cruel sage took out a kitchen knife and cut the straitjacket in two so Sonic’s torso was left exposed, but his arms were still bound. He put away the knife and then took out a large iron comb and dug deep into his flesh, leaving the skin flayed. He repeated the process over his entire torso as Sonic cried out in anguish with each goring until his torso was nothing but exposed flesh and the blue hedgehog laid in a pool of his own blood.

Suddenly, Sonic awoke once more; this time, he found himself lying on the couch he had fallen asleep on. At last, Sonic unleashed a chilling roar of terror. The shrill noise induced a simultaneous reaction of the other four all jolting awake. The agonizing shriek lasted for ten hellish seconds before the blue speedster fell silent once more, still awake and beginning to wail softly as the other four stayed put. None of them got up as Sonic quietly wept a river, staining the couch cushions with his tears.

* * *

Fast forwarding seven hours later, the quintet was awake and as rested as they possibly could have been. While Amy, Knuckles, Gadget, and Silver drowsily congregated on the couches surrounding the coffee table, Sonic was perched on a stool in the kitchen, taking a sip of his coffee. Last night’s dream left the blue racer in an almost vegetative state; he was still aware of what was going on, but his body gave off a completely different impression; his ultramarine quills dulled to a lackluster blue-gray, his emerald green irides had jaundiced considerably, his peach skin became anemic, and his expression mimicked that of a thousand-yard stare.

As Gadget stood up to refill his own cup, he noticed the dejected warrior with his head down as his eyes anxiously scanned the hardwood floor beneath him.

“Sonic…?” the canine asked. “Are you okay?”

Gadget received an incoherent grunt in response.

“…Would you mind telling us about what freaked you out during the night?” he queried.

Sonic looked at him, slowly set down his cup on the counter nearby, and turned his back clearly agitated.

“Sonic?” Gadget began walking towards the hedgehog.

“Hold on,” Sonic grumbled.

After a couple moments, Sonic asked if he could talk about it with Gadget in private. He agreed, and the two headed upstairs to the wolf’s bedroom. Gadget locked the door behind them and Sonic sat down on a chair while Gadget sat on the bed.

Sonic then proceeded to tell Gadget every detail about the dream he could remember. He recalled seeing his friends in the same dire predicament; he recalled the pain of the branding iron pressed against his exposed flesh; he claimed he could still hear the screaming as they were all tortured in different ways.

“I also wanted to thank you,” Sonic admitted.

The auburn-furred wolf was baffled. “Thank me? For what?”

“For giving me a what-for a few minutes ago,” he answered. “To tell the truth, particularly bad night terrors have me go completely ballistic the morning immediately after. Every single one of them is exhausting and not fun to experience. Thank you for bringing me to my senses before things could get worse.”

Gadget could hardly reply. He was stunned.

“…You’re welcome, Sonic.”

As the two opened the door to go back downstairs, they were greeted by Amy, Knuckles, and Silver right there in front of them. They had been eavesdropping on the conversation the entire time.

Sonic gave a chuckle and sighed. “Yeah, okay, I should’ve shared this with the rest of you too.”

* * *

Three hours later, the quintet decided to take a stroll throughout Station Square to distract their minds from the events of the previous night. They stumbled upon a plot of non-urbanized land within the city. Thinking this would be the perfect place to relax, the five eagerly sprinted across the open field as they effortlessly scaled the numerous rolling hills it had to offer.

Reaching the other side of the field, the grass beneath their feet soon became sand as they trekked onto the Emerald Coast beach and reached the hotel. As they took a poolside seat, they noticed an ebony creature sitting alone in one of the deck chairs. His top quill faced down while the rest of his quills faced up, he had a patch of chest fur, and what appeared to be rings around his wrists and ankles.

“Shadow?” Sonic blurted out, not meaning to say out loud.

As the unknown visitor turned his head in their direction, it was instantly clear that Shadow had also come here. He had flinched at the sound of his name, and was even more surprised to discover it was his comrades. He sighed and shook his head.

“You never cease to surprise me, blue hedgehog,” he muttered.

“I tend to do that well, don’t I?” Sonic bantered with a cheeky grin across his face.

“Don’t get too self-confident, faker,” Shadow retorted. “Perhaps you should stick to aimlessly running around like a dolt.”

The blue speedster simply chuckled at the other hedgehog’s comment. “What are you doing here anyway?”

“Well, right now, I’m just taking a break,” the Ultimate Lifeform replied.

“Just right now? Well, what’s the reason you’re in Station Square to begin with?” Knuckles asked.

“Well, I was coming here so I wasn’t just having night terrors in a familiar setting every night,” Shadow admitted. “But since that hasn’t worked, now I’m just having night terrors in an unfamiliar setting. So now, instead of just having a hard time trusting anybody, I’m now having a hard time trusting anybody and anything.”

Sonic simply looked down into the water, picking up the sound of the tiny splashes of water that reached the pool’s edge.

“Yeah, I definitely feel you,” Knuckles chirped. “I always found it easy to trust people, but all that changed after the war.”

As the echidna finished his sentence, the roar of a jet engine overhead startled the six anthropomorphic animals. As they looked up, it was traveling tremendously fast and dangerously close to the ground. Thankfully, the plane zoomed off with no harm done.

Sonic instantly felt anxiety beginning to settle in; this time, however, he didn’t feel that a meltdown was imminent. He excused himself as he entered the hotel lobby and sat on one of the benches nearest to the door in order to regroup.

As he stepped back out, he assured everyone that he was fine and that it was simply “butterflies in his stomach.” The other five took his word for it and Shadow soon parted ways with the group as they moved away from the beach in search of other activities to do in the city.

After twelve hours of touring Station Square’s lesser-well-known places, the quintet headed back to the apartment. That night, Sonic’s memory of the plane speeding overhead began to give him anxiety again but, just like last time, he didn’t feel an attack was about to happen. Sure enough, none happened and he fell asleep without incident.

* * *

A week later, Sonic was back at his old stomping grounds in the city. They had left Station Square not too long prior and Sonic informed his friends that he would prefer to spend some time alone for a short while immediately upon returning home. They obliged, and Sonic was on his own. As he glanced out the back window to gaze at the early morning sun, he began to wonder if the support he had received from his friends throughout the weeks and months following the war was either actually genuine or worth it.

For the last year, he had, for the most part, shied away from interacting with others no matter how hard he tried and the bland lifestyle he was leading as a result was beginning to isolate him from others even further. Sonic sat down on the couch and pondered. He had never realized it until now, but he was beginning to lose it as the months went by; his once-carefree demeanor had almost completely erased itself from existence, his depression got exponentially worse, and he barely found any joy in the activities that had once given him such a great time.

The blue hedgehog was asking himself so many questions. Did he truly want to keep pushing forward the way he has been over the past fourteen months? Was there really a reason to do things anymore? Would anyone care if he was gone?

He quickly concluded his answers to the first two questions, but struggled on the third. On one hand, his friends have repeatedly expressed how important that Sonic had been in their lives and how they were grateful for him. But on the other hand, he kept thinking about how his actions would cause more harm than good on occasion.

_“It’s my own dumb decisions that gets everybody else into trouble. Not putting the fake Chaos Emerald into the Eclipse Cannon before going to save Amy so we could have avoided the entire thing with the giant lizard. Being careless in my super state and getting captured because of it, subsequently tearing the planet into pieces. Nearly losing my closest friend because of my dimwitted ways back on the Lost Hex.”_

“No,” Sonic said. “I think things would be better for them if I weren’t in their way. I’ve become so toxic and unlikable, my friends merely tolerate me rather than like me.”

After a long while of thinking to himself, he made his decision.

“I’m taking the easy way out.”


	6. One Year And Four Months After the War

Over the next two months, Sonic meticulously went over his plan. Up to now, Sonic wasn’t entirely sure he wanted to do it. Now, however, he was certain that he was locked on to carrying it out.

The fateful day arrived, and the blue blur was ready to execute the plan. All morning and afternoon, he made sure everything was in its proper place and played its part well. At sunset, he raced around the field adjacent to the city before he decided to walk over to Tails’ place of abode; it was an old, run-down workshop.

Knowing Tails trusted him, Sonic let himself in without knocking after he tested the door handle to see if it was unlocked, which it was. Sure enough, Tails was there working away as busy as can be at his computer.

“Yo, Tails,” he greeted the cadmium orange canine.

He peered over his shoulder and about-faced.

“Oh, it’s you!” Tails said enthusiastically. “How are things lately, Sonic?”

Sonic simply shrugged and smiled as he gave a so-and-so gesture.

“You’ve still been doing fine?” Tails queried.

“At ease,” Sonic answered.

After a moment, Sonic slowly ambled over and wrapped his arms around Tails as he enveloped him in a bear hug. Tails returned the favor, still not entirely sure what Sonic’s purpose of being here was.

As Tails was about to ask why he had stopped by, though, Sonic left just as quickly as he came. He was gone. For good, Sonic expected.

Sonic thought to himself that one last gazing at the night sky before he carried out his plan would give him some peace of mind, so he sauntered to a valley not far from the city. It was a recreational area but, at night, it was virtually empty. There seemed to be only a handful of stargazers present at the time. It was late at night by this point and Sonic was growing more impatient by the minute. Feigning a genuine smile, he seated himself at a nearby concrete bench and laid his head on a table in front of it.

“I can’t believe I’m actually about to go through with this,” Sonic quietly spoke to himself. “Twenty-seven years and it all boils down to this?”

He had his fill and was finally ready to do what he had been meaning to do. Before he went, however, he reflected on the good times he had with his close friends and comrades. Their relentless will to assist Sonic in any way they could. Their wit and quick thinking that kept Sonic busy. The days they spent with Sonic, just hanging out and doing whatever. The realization that these were all about to be erased along with him hit like a pile of bricks.

Almost as if on autopilot, Sonic walked back home and collapsed to the ground inside the doorway. He was utterly shocked. Tears flowed from his eyes and down his face. He was really about to do it, he thought.

Sonic wiped the tears from his eyes. Afterwards, he stood up and looked to the sky, having more questions than answers. Did he really want to do this? Could he do this? If he did it, how long would it take for him to be found?

With adrenaline racing through his body and his heart about to burst through his chest, Sonic rushed home and rambled upstairs to the bedroom. There, he found what he was going to use, on his bed: a loaded Winchester Model 1200 12-gauge pump action shotgun.

A suicide note scrawled onto a scratch piece of paper laid on the nightstand adjacent to his bed. It read:

* * *

_“To whom it may concern,_

_Dear God in Heaven, please forgive me my weakness and my sins. Please look over my friends. I thank the good Lord for giving me 27 years of exciting challenges, stimulating experiences, many happy occasions and most of all, the finest comrades any man could ever desire._

_After many hours of thought and meditation, I’ve made a decision that should not be an example to anyone because it is unique to my situation.  Please tell my story on every radio and television station and in every newspaper and magazine in the world. Things just seemed to go too wrong, too many times._

_I feel I can not bear it any longer. Forgive me, and apologies for the loud noise. It’s better to burn out than to fade away.”_

* * *

As he picked up the firearm and put the barrel in his mouth aiming up towards his brain, tears continued to stream down his cheeks. His left thumb was laying on the trigger. Sonic’s heart raced even faster, finally ready to do the unthinkable.

But every time he wanted to pull the trigger, he found himself unable to press down hard enough on it. He was so nervous his hands were trembling and he struggled to hold onto the shotgun, sometimes unable to even put his thumb back onto the trigger. At last, the gun finally slipped out of his hands and fell harmlessly to the floor. His vision was fully blurred with tears by now.

“I  ** _can’t_**!” Sonic wailed as he dropped to his knees and covered his face, soaking his gloves with tears. “ _How could I possibly do this to my friends_?!” For a solid half-hour, he continued to weep until finally, with tears still lining the bottom of his eyes, he picked up the weapon and shoved it into a dresser.

No longer able to think straight, he flopped into bed and turned the lights off. He was still thinking about what had just transpired. He laid there awake all night. He didn’t know if he should tell anybody. He didn’t know what to do anymore.  As he finally drifted off to sleep with the sun rising on the horizon, a figure seemed to be watching from the ground below and peering into the window.


	7. The Day After the Attempt

Quite frankly, Sonic had no idea how the hell he was still alive by this point.

For the past 16 months, he had spiraled down to the lowest of lows. He was a completely broken hedgehog. But, even after nearly following through on a suicide attempt not too long ago, here he was; sitting on the front porch with Tails, who had paid a visit to Sonic to check in and make sure everything was alright. Up to now, Sonic never told a soul about what he had almost done that one night.

“Hey, Sonic?” Tails spoke up. Sonic realized his mind had wandered and was briefly dazed before he turned to his partner.

“Oh, hey,” Sonic said softly before he chuckled to himself. “Forgot you were there for a second. What’s up?”

“I just wanted to let you know that it’s great having you around,” Tails answered with a grin.

“I-I appreciate the sentiment,” Sonic stumbled, “but why do ya say that?”

“Well, I just knew that something wasn’t exactly right these past few months…” Tails confessed. “Like a suspicion that you were hiding something from everyone else.”

“No way!” Sonic smugly retorted. “I’d never not tell you anything that would be important, little bro!”

As Sonic spoke, Tails’ upper eyelids slid down and he looked at him worryingly.

“See, the thing is…” Tails began, the smile running away from his face.

Sonic waited for Tails to finish his sentence, but all he got was silence.

“…You know what, never mind,” Tails brushed off the suspicion. “Maybe I’ll bring it up later.”

“Whatever ya say, buddy,” Sonic said as he flashed a bright smile.

* * *

A few days later, Sonic was mysteriously invited anonymously for a “private gathering.” His friends would be there, too, he was told. He accepted, and made his way to the destined location. When he arrived, the “rundown shack” that was described in the invitation letter just turned out to be Tails’ house. As he entered and shut the door behind him, he turned around to see thousand-yard stares going right through him.

Tails. Shadow. Silver. Amy. Knuckles. Gadget. They were all there. Some had tears welling in the corner of their eyes. Others simply stared with their mouths slightly agape in shock.

“But why?” Sonic thought to himself. “What’s the big deal?”

Then it hit him.

His heart instantly sank. He tried to speak.

“I…”

But he was at a loss for words.

He gestured for them all to stand, and they obliged. One by one, save for Shadow, Sonic embraced them all. Some of them wept as he did so. Others were so shocked they physically could not return the favor. Sonic then seated himself in the only other chair available.

“Sonic…” Tails sniffled, fighting the urge to sob uncontrollably.

“Buddy…” the hedgehog interjected. “…I’m okay.”

“Like hell you are!” Amy scolded him. “ **You nearly killed yourself!** ”

“Ames! It’s not what you thi—”

“It is exactly what we think, Sonic,” Knuckles affirmed. “We  _know_ what happened. I watched you do it that night.”

There it was; Sonic’s secret was no longer. His friends knew.

“Have you forgotten everything we’ve been telling you since the war ended?” Silver queried.

Gadget tried to speak but he couldn’t come up with anything to say, so he remained mute.

“I’m not going to beat around the bush,” Tails said. “You need to understand that we care about you. You worry that you’ve never done enough for us or done all the wrong things to us? A lot of us owe our lives to you for being who you were before: a courageous, selfless hero. But ever since the war, a part of you seemed to die. You stopped visiting us. You ate less. You slept less. You never found enjoyment in anything. Even running—the one thing you’ve always loved to do—was nothing more than a nuisance to you.”

As he finished the last sentence, Tails’ voice trailed off. He wiped away his tears and continued.

“Sonic… we’re here for you. Remember that you can always talk to us if you need to. We want to help you.”

The air in the room was nearly bone-chilling as they spoke. Sonic couldn’t take it any longer. He had to get the words out if he wanted to feel any sort of vindication, he felt.

So he did.

“I don’t know who I am anymore. Every single day, I look back on my past and I realize I’m no longer the Sonic I used to be. It feels cold. It feels empty. It feels hopeless. Nothing makes sense to me anymore. It feels like that everybody I know no longer knows me. I feel alone. I know I’m not alone, but it always feels like I am anyway. To be truthful with you, I never thought I’d even attempt suicide. But… it happened. Last night, it happened. I was going to take my own life. I felt like I was floating without a body in a black limbo rather than being a physical entity treading the Earth. I was lost. I didn’t know how to get myself on the right path again.”

“Trust me, I want to be my old self again. I really do. There’s always that one tiny part of my mind telling me,  _‘You’ve been through this before. You’re going to be OK.’_  But they’re all overpowered by the numerous voices in my head telling me I’m not good enough, that I’m a burden, that I should just fade from existence as an insignificant footnote in history. Playing hero for so long has taken its toll. I’ve danced with the reaper more times than I can count, and every single goddamn one of those experiences were the most utterly terrifying thing someone could ever go through. The Death Egg imprisonment was merely the straw that broke the camel’s back. I barely held it together for the remainder of the war. I tried to hide it as best as I could. But I couldn’t hide it forever. I had to let the world know my pain.”

Tears began streaming down Sonic’s face again. He fell silent as he wiped them away.

“But the worst part of it all is that I’m scared. I’m scared of what will happen to me if I don’t escape from this emotional Hell soon. I’m scared of my actions. I’m scared of  _myself_. I don’t know how to explain it, but I’m really scared of who I am now. I want to go back. I want to go back to the old days where I hadn’t a care in the world and threw myself into trouble without thinking twice. I want to go back to the days where I enjoyed bashing Egghead’s face in on a regular basis. I don’t want to be like who I am now.”

At this point, Sonic was full-on shaking. He began to grow less somber and more angry. He was red in the face, his green irides had shrunk and his pupils followed suit. As he immersed himself in his own words, he could feel something that he hadn’t felt in a long time. To his amazement, he was slowly beginning to feel like his former self. It was simply nothing but a blip on the radar. A pebble thrown into the ocean. Its presence was almost impossible to notice.

But Sonic felt it. And it was there. And he wasn’t about to let the feeling escape. He wanted more of it. He had been starved of it for far too long.

“I want to go back. I  ** _will_**  go back.”

His face contorted into a wicked smile and began cackling maniacally.

“And if anyone wants to stop me,  **then they’ll have to pray for me to stop**.”

With that, he shot out of his seat and bolted out the door. In a flash, he was gone. Everybody else, in a futile effort, immediately sprang up and gave chase, unsure of Sonic’s intentions.

For the first time in a long time, Sonic had faith in himself. Was it craziness? Perhaps. Was it a fleeting feeling? He didn’t know. But in that moment, it had finally arrived.

It was a long time coming for him.

“ _Free at last_ ,” he thought to himself as he blazed through the terrain, his mind focused on what lies ahead.


	8. Turning Point

Unfortunately, Sonic’s jubilance was short-lived. He had come to realize the fact that he will experience flashbacks for the rest of his life. While they weren’t as frequent as before, they still happened much to Sonic’s dismay. His depression wasn’t much better, either, if at all. He still spent many days not even bothering to rise out of bed, only doing so if he needed to relieve himself. He refused to eat any food and rarely drank any water. Thankfully, at one point or another, he would eventually force himself to eat or drink something so that he didn’t become irreversibly malnourished and dehydrated. Even still, Sonic lived every waking minute of his days under a figurative thunderstorm and found it difficult to find any motivation to get out of bed.

Thankfully for Sonic, it had always been this way ever since the war ended and it was getting a little better; he was now able to mask his inner nihilistic attitude with his retro, cheery, happy-go-lucky demeanor when out in public, whether it be on his own or with a group of his friends. If something was particularly bothering him, he’d simply make a beeline for Amy’s place of abode, whom agreed to “be” his psychologist of sorts; Sonic found it unnecessary and too financially risky to pay for an actual therapist.

It was one of those days where Sonic had a rendezvous with Amy in the middle of their session when her phone rang. It appeared to be a pedestrian call, like any other, but as the call progressed the blue blur could tell something was off this time. He couldn’t quite put his finger on what it was exactly, but he definitely felt it. As soon as Amy hung up, he found out why.

“What was that all about?” he queried.

“That was Shadow on behalf of G.U.N.,” Amy revealed.

“Metal Sonic is on the loose. We aren’t sure where he’s at, but we know he’s at large.”

As soon as he heard that, Sonic swore he could feel his heart instantly drop into his stomach. He was gobsmacked at the thought that Metal Sonic was still out there.

Then his blood ran cold. He began to feel an emotion he’d never truly felt before—never at this magnitude.

His peach-toned skin became blood red. His eyes narrowed and he furrowed the ridges above them. His ears began twitching wildly out of irritation. His eye color transformed from the normal emerald green irides to two glowing orange ovals. He balled his hands into closed fists as they trembled at his side. His quills bristled as his temper began to burn nearly beyond his control.

A fuse had been lit in his head. It would only be a matter of time before it ran out.

He slowly got up and walked toward the door.

“Sonic, where are you going?” Amy asked.

He simply replied in a tone that, if words could kill, would murder anybody who dared to listen.

“I’m ending him for good.”


	9. Crunch Time

As soon as Sonic stepped out the door, he scrambled for the one place he believed he knew where Metal Sonic would be: the Groza Mountains. 

The Groza Mountains are a mountain range located about 150 miles, or 241 kilometers, southwest of the city. Large glaciers shape the mountain tops and the slopes themselves forged out of limestone. What sets this mountain range apart from others, however, is the sheer amount of crevasses that snaked deep into the underground—a perfect spot for a hideout. 

Sonic raced up toward the summit until he reached a gaping hole in the side of the rocks: one of the crevasses. And this one in particular stretched deep beneath the base of the mountain, far lower underground than any of the others. Even with the steep drops and jagged edges of the rocks, Sonic was able to swiftly, but carefully, maneuver his way down to the bottom. It was pitch black until a bright light momentarily blinded him. The light was turned out as quickly as it had been turned on; of course, Sonic found this to be extremely suspicious. Sonic raced into the abyss. 

He was about a quarter-mile deep underground when he saw light—artificial light, he was certain—coming from a large hole that appeared to have been carved out by something or someone. Sonic was sure that this was where Metal Sonic took refuge. 

As Sonic sprinted up to the entrance, however, a pile of boulders suddenly piled up in front of him, sealing off the way in.This only further angered Sonic, and it certainly didn’t help when he heard a taunting laugh from the other side. 

Beginning to become truly furious, Sonic reared back and disintegrated the boulder pile with a single punch. As he stepped inside to confront Metal, he caught a quick glance of his surroundings. 

Screens lined the walls of the hideout, each one connected with a series of wires and tubes. At the back wall was the mainframe computer lined with an array of keys, buttons, lights, and everything in between. The room was about as tall as a skyscraper and numerous jagged edges in the walls above the screens made for decent platforms should the need to use one arise. 

But the biggest detail was Metal Sonic himself—he was in his Neo transformation.As soon as Metal Sonic turned around to investigate the noise, Sonic balled his hands into closed fists and amber orbs began to materialize within the cobalt hero’s pupils. His voice transformed into a deep, bone-chilling and otherworldly one, best described as a rumble and a roar at the same time. 

“ ** _Alright, Metal, spare the bullshit for later. What’s the fucking deal this time?_** ” the enraged blue blur thundered, his voice echoing throughout. 

“I was wondering when you’d finally arrive, faker,” Metal Sonic answered condescendingly. “You take an awfully long time for the so-called ‘fastest thing alive,’ you know.” 

“ _ **All I want to know is what you’re doing here and what you’re planning to do,**_ ” Sonic roared back. 

The metal menace simply chuckled at the other’s retort. 

“To keep this concise, let’s just say that I’ve been plotting on how to get rid of you once and for all. And I don’t mean something along the lines of, let’s say, defeating you in a one-on-one battle,” Metal Sonic began monologuing. “Over these past couple of years I’ve been studying you based on the last time I copied your biodata. Through my secret hidden network of spy communications, I have enough information on you to carry out the plan of my life.” 

“ _ **What do you mean by that?**_ ” Sonic queried, still heated, but also genuinely baffled at Metal’s response. 

“What I mean,” explained Metal, “is that I know who you have become ever since the Resistance’s victory in the war. I know who you truly are now. And I’m here to capitalize on the opportunity.” 

Sonic was doing the best he could to keep his emotions from getting the best of him when Metal finally commented one more time. 

“I know where to hit you the hardest, you pathetic little clone.” 

Suddenly, as if on cue, the entire room began to shake violently as if an earthquake were occurring. Sonic began to cackle maniacally as his eyes began to turn pure white with a glow of the same hue, his quills and fur painted vantablack, his skin darkened from peach to dark grey, and a dark purple aura enveloped the rodent. 

Metal Sonic was caught completely off-guard by the sudden turn of events and burst toward Sonic with his built-in jetpack, only for Sonic to simply teleport behind him. He had never seen this form of Sonic before; no collected biodata ever showed any history of this iteration of the blue hedgehog. 

“ _ **When I’m through with you, you will be nothing but yet another voice among the screams of the damned,**_ ” Sonic gravely threatened. 

As Metal Sonic frantically gathered a quick scan of Sonic to identify his current form, two words appeared on the mainframe’s interface. 

“ _Dark Sonic._ ”


	10. Fight!

“No matter,” Metal Sonic gruffly responded. “Only I, the true Sonic, will be the one left standing.” 

“ ** _Those are bold words for a sorry excuse of a robot copy,_** ” Dark Sonic shot back. 

As soon as he finished his sentence, he delivered a lightning-fast kick to Metal’s head to temporarily daze him before pinning him down onto the ground.

“ ** _The world will_ thank _me for this, you monster,_** ” he exclaimed as he twisted Metal’s arm behind him and snapped his wrist to loosen it from its welds. 

Metal shot up to his feet in pain and began to fly towards one of the makeshift cliffs hanging up above, and Dark Sonic followed suit. As Dark Sonic went in for another hit, Metal dodged the attack before he grabbed Dark Sonic by the throat and bashed his face into the jagged copper speleothems. This gave Dark Sonic a broken nose, three chipped teeth, and a mild concussion. 

But this wasn’t enough to seriously hinder Dark Sonic; as soon as Metal released his grasp on his throat and flew downward towards the ground, Dark Sonic grabbed Metal’s own throat and performed a sleeper hold on him. He then proceeded to drive his fist into Metal’s eye visor twice, shattering it and leaving the actual red eyes exposed. 

“ ** _I should have never let you go free,_** ” Dark Sonic growled in incredible disdain. “ ** _I should have disassembled you when I first had the chance._** ” 

Metal, still in Dark Sonic’s grasp, turned his head to face his adversary in the eyes. 

“But you  _didn’t_ ,” Metal Sonic smugly remarked before breaking free of Dark Sonic’s hold and sweeping Dark Sonic’s feet out from under him. 

Dark Sonic landed hard on his back and Metal immediately took the opportunity to pummel his opponent with an array of punches, slaps, and elbows. After a good 15 seconds, Metal decided to let up. He backed away from the now-battered Dark Sonic. 

So far, albeit unbeknownst to him, Dark Sonic had suffered a broken nose, a broken jaw, a cracked skull, and three broken ribs. Because of the pure adrenaline surging through his body, however, he felt no pain up to this point. 

This time, though, Dark Sonic was slow to get up. 

“Now, I want you to listen very carefully,” Metal Sonic cooed sarcastically as Dark Sonic tried to stand up only to flop back onto the floor from a sudden piercing pain in his side. 

“When I’m through with you, I will cement my place as the one true Sonic. This world will become the dark empire under the rule of my iron fist. With the power of the seven Chaos Emeralds, I am going to  _destroy this damn planet!_ ” 

Dark Sonic’s eyes lit with fury. In defiance, he got up and staggered over to a now-gobsmacked Metal Sonic. 

“ ** _Well…_** ” Dark Sonic quipped with a wicked smile, “ ** _…I’m afraid I can’t let you do that._** ” 

Dark Sonic turned his back and began to walk towards the computer mainframe. Metal Sonic took this opportunity to catch him off-guard with a sneak attack. As he went in for the hit, however, he was met with a vicious forearm shiver from Dark Sonic that sent him flying back the way he came and crashing hard into the rocks. 

Dark Sonic simply laughed as he turned back around and limped toward the enemy. 

“ ** _Weren’t you supposed to be_ good _at dodging?_** ” Dark Sonic taunted. 

Impulsively, Metal Sonic shot up and soared to the very ceiling of the cave. Dark Sonic chased him and the two proceeded to duke it out in mid-air, bashing each other in an attempt to find an opening which they could work with. They bounced off the walls, they strategically evaded the hazardous stalagmites hanging from the roof, and they continued to go at it. 

Finally, Dark Sonic let out a loud whistle in a desperate effort to distract Metal Sonic. 

It worked. 

Metal’s momentary distraction was all Dark Sonic needed to snatch him out of the air and hurled the robot with all his strength down to the ground. 

As Metal Sonic landed with a resounding, graceless and metallic clank, Dark Sonic descended from above and examined his arch-nemesis. 

Dark Sonic was bloodied and bruised over every part of his body. One of Metal’s talon-like fingers had sliced into his shoulders and one of his back spines had stabbed him in the stomach. 

Metal Sonic was even worse; all the fingers on his left hand were mangled, his right arm was completely dismembered from his body, and the blue paint had almost completely peeled away from the wear and tear of the fight. 

“ ** _I’m wolverine-mean, you son of a bitch,_** ” Dark Sonic declared in a voice that was even lower than it had been before. 

“…Foolish… hedgehog…” Metal Sonic’s voice trailed off. 

“ ** _Before I dispose of you, I want to make something perfectly clear._** ” 

Metal simply gazed at him, lying prone and defenseless. 

“ ** _Ever read the Bible, Mets?_** ” 

Metal laid motionless; alive but unresponsive. 

“ ** _Well, there’s one passage that stands out to me. Ezekiel 25:17. I feel it would make for a perfect send-off for a villain so despicable as you are._** ” 

Metal Sonic’s eyes shrunk as he began to fear what was coming to him. 

“ ** _The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he, who in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother’s keeper and the finder of lost children._** ” 

Dark Sonic towered over Metal Sonic, and he knew he had the upper hand for good. 

“ ** _And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who would attempt to poison and destroy my brothers._** ” 

Dark Sonic placed his hands on Metal Sonic’s cheeks. 

“ ** _And you will know my name is the Lord…_** ” 

Dark Sonic gripped Metal’s head tighter and brought his face closer to his own. The whites of his eyes shined with fury and his gloves began to mysteriously stain themselves blood red. He slowly unveiled a cruel grin, his teeth now razor-sharp. 

“ ** _…when I lay my vengeance upon thee._** ” 

Then, he snapped Metal Sonic’s neck so forcefully it ripped his head clean off his shoulders. 

As Dark Sonic transformed back into his normal state, he relished in his greatest victory to date. He took a stalagmite that had fallen from the roof of the cave and used it to shatter the screens lining the walls and rendered the computer mainframe unusable and the data impossible to recover. 

In spite of his own injuries, Sonic promptly exited the cave, escaped the crevasse, and raced down the mountainside to the dry soil below. As he glanced at the mountain one last time, he chuckled softly and ambled back towards home. 

This victory wasn’t just about himself. 

It was about his friends. 

It was about the world. 

It was about using power for good instead of evil. 

It was about doing the right thing.

“My stories only end when I stop running.” 


	11. Down and Out

Ever since the Metal Sonic fight, Sonic slowly began to get back into the normal swing of things: trashing evil wherever it may arise and running like no tomorrow. In the months following Metal’s demise, his confidence had almost grown back to what it was before his capture and he was beginning to show more of his cocky attitude.

Of course, however, there were still setbacks. Sonic didn’t like dwelling on them, but sometimes he couldn’t help but do just that. These sessions never lasted long, though, and he was back on his feet seeking out new adventure not much later.

But he always had an underlying feeling that something bad was waiting to occur.

It was on one breezy summer afternoon that he was at Tails’ workshop with Tails, Amy, and Knuckles. They had met up for a quick chat and perhaps to grab dinner.

While the other three bickered over which place to go to, Sonic began to break out in a cold sweat. He had zero idea why; he had been trashing leftover robots running amok, so if he were sweating it shouldn’t be a cold sweat. And if he were sweating at all, it shouldn’t be right now. He brushed it off, though, telling himself that it was merely his imagination.

As his vision began to blur slightly and his head began to ache, however, he wasn’t so sure.

“Hey, Ames?” Sonic asked.

“What’s the matter, Sonic?”

“I’m feeling a tad sick, but I dunno why. My eyes ain’t doing too well…”

Then he began to feel nauseous. His vision blurred and he grew dizzy. He felt a pain in his chest, as if someone were crushing it under a hydraulic press.

“Is it bad?” Tails piped up. “Are you okay?”

Then it began to spread to his neck. Sonic could no longer concentrate and he momentarily forgot his presence.

“Sonic?” Tails spoke again.

Before he knew it, Sonic was running short of breath. But he wasn’t about to let Amy and Tails get the idea that something was seriously wrong; after all, he could still breathe at this point. Even through the growing blurriness of his vision, he could tell everyone’s faces were laden with worry and uncertainty.

“Just gimme a sec,” Sonic wheezed.

As he grew more and more fatigued and nauseous, the pain in his chest began to amplify as he coughed violently. Suddenly, he clutched his chest and his eyes shot open. His vision was even blurrier than before and had no idea where he even was anymore. The three others immediately rushed over to Sonic’s side.

“Sonic, speak to me! Are you alright?!” Knuckles worriedly queried.

Sonic tried to answer, but the pain in his chest kept him from doing so.

“ _What the hell is going on? What’s happening to me?_ ” Sonic thought to himself.

Then it felt as if his throat completely constricted. He could no longer breathe.

Gasping for air and still holding his chest, he dropped like a rock onto the hardwood floor. Tails, Amy, and Knuckles all began to wildly panic at the sight in front of them: Sonic lying prone on the floor with a hand still clutching his chest and desperately struggling for air.

Now, he was only able to make out certain noises that the others were making, but very few sentences, let alone words. Even with their distinct voices, he couldn’t tell who was speaking. All the while, the uproar in the workshop quickly escalated.

“Sonic!”

He began to slowly doze off. His mind was too foggy to form anything beyond a simple thought.

“Good Lord, what is—?!”

His muscles began to relax except for the searing pain in his chest. Finally, it was beginning to become apparent to the others as to what was going on.

“ _Oh my God, I think he’s having a heart attack! Amy, call an ambulance right **now**_!”

That was the last thing Sonic heard before his world faded to black.


	12. Uncertainty

The next time he woke up, he found himself in a bed in an unfamiliar room. He had an oxygen mask strapped to his face and soon realized he was breathing via mechanical ventilation. He could hear voices from just outside the room.

“Is he going to be okay?” he heard Tails ask somebody else, presumably a doctor.

“At this point, we can’t say for sure. What we do know, though, is that his health is in grave danger.”

Sonic instantly feared the worst. He knew that nothing good could come out of this.

“His heart had actually stopped beating during the ride to the hospital. Fortunately, we were able to revive him. He’s still in critical condition, though, so we’ve hooked him up on life support for an indefinite period of time.”

Sonic’s eyes shot open and his heart, unhealthily, began to race.

“ _ Life support _ ?” he whispered to himself.

“We’ve put him through a CT scan, so we’ll try and find anything else that might be going on in his heart,” the doctor continued. “We should get results very soon.”

“Is he conscious?” wondered Amy.

“Oh, yeah, he’s definitely conscious.”

“May we see him?” Knuckles chimed in.

“Sure, take as much time as you need.”

The door opened, and the three walked in. Immediately following them were Shadow, Gadget, and Silver. All of them—even Shadow—looked horrified.

Sonic began to speak, but stopped after he remembered he had an oxygen mask on; they wouldn’t hear him clearly.

Instead, Sonic waved softly, his eyes narrow with exhaustion.

“What happened, exactly?” asked Shadow.

“We were meeting at Tails’ workshop trying to figure out where we wanted to go for dinner,” Amy explained, “and Sonic began complaining that his vision was blurred.”

“Then he began holding his chest like he was in some kind of pain,” Knuckles continued. “It didn’t take long before we realized he was having a heart attack.”

“Did you guys ever find out what caused it?” Gadget asked.

“The doctor told us that stress heavily contributed to it but, other than that, they’re trying to find out if something else is happening,” Tails said.

“Did they actually say that?” Silver prompted, turning towards Sonic.

Sonic simply gave a quick head nod, even though he didn’t hear the question.

“Do we know how bad it is?” Shadow thought out loud.

“They said he’s in critical condition,” Amy quietly responded.

They all glanced over at Sonic. His blue fur had dulled to a boring blue-grey, his once-peach skin had now become extremely pale, and his emerald green irides had transformed into nothing more than hazel rings surrounding the pupil.

Sonic had been through numerous death-defying experiences. He had escaped a disintegrating capsule launched from space, endured a mysterious energy form that completely changed him upon nightfall, and even rescued from a black hole.

Yet, this was the one time they weren’t sure he would make it out alive.

Suddenly, three doctors entered the room with a heart-lung machine. Sonic and the other six immediately noticed a sense of urgency in their eyes.

“We just got results of his CT scan back,” one of them spoke.

“We found a 95% blockage in his left main coronary artery,” another revealed. “We need to perform a coronary artery bypass surgery as soon as possible.”

“I suppose that means we have to leave?” Gadget asked.

“Unfortunately,” the third one answered. “The procedure should take anywhere from three to six hours. You can just wait in the visitor’s lobby and we’ll let you know if anything needs to be brought to your attention.”

They all nodded and stood up. Each of them gave Sonic a quick hug before they filed out the door, some of them with tears welling in their eyes. They weren’t sure if he was going to be okay.

As the last one exited, the doctors immediately took off Sonic’s oxygen mask and instructed him to open his mouth. He did, and they inserted a breathing tube connected to a ventilator.

While the doctors applied general anesthesia, Sonic felt himself becoming slowly drowsier. Even still, however, his mind still swirled with thoughts of fear that his friends wouldn’t be able to move on without him if he didn’t survive this ordeal.

He had little time to think about it, though. As he went under, he could faintly hear the voices of the doctors operating on him.

“Do you think this guy will actually live?” one of them asked another.

“Personally? No. Absolutely not.”


	13. Results Are In

Six long hours had passed, and the doctors finally broke through the doors into the lobby to break the news.

“Did he make it?” Amy blubbered, terrified of receiving the answer she didn’t want to hear.

“It’s a bloody miracle. He’s alive,” one doctor frantically spoke.

Instantly, one by one, their eyes lit up.

“How long will he be hospitalized?” asked Gadget.

“Barring any unexpected happenings, you can expect him to be on his way home in a week at the very most,” another doctor explained. “We just need to keep him here until then to make sure there aren’t any other problems.”

“Are we allowed to see him right now?” Shadow queried.

One of the doctors sighed, as if to ponder over it.

“Yes,” the doctor answered, “but not for long. We need to get him to the ICU so he can recover.”

With that, the doctors led them to the room where Sonic was in, and the gang filed in. Sonic looked over to see them entering the room. He smiled and waved, tubes still running in and out of his body.

“Hey, guys,” he spoke softly. “I want you guys to listen to me for a minute, alright?”

They all complied and remained silent.

“It’s really been a long journey, huh?” Sonic chuckled to himself.

He cleared his throat the best he could.

“Over these past couple years, you all know I’ve been going through a lot. I understand it’s not easy watching a loved one go through something quite like this. Trust me, I’ve been on the other side of things before. I know how it feels. But I just wanted you guys to know…”

Sonic’s voice trailed off. He sniffled and continued speaking.

“...that you are the best damn group of friends I could’ve ever asked for. You’ve stuck with me through thick and thin and this time is no different. I don’t think I’ll ever truly be able to express how much gratitude I have for you all. Thank you so much.”

The others stared at him, none able to conjure up any words to say.

“I also wanted to say something else. I’ve really learned something important through this entire road to recovery. Well, I shouldn’t say ‘learned.’ Rather, I had ignored it up until now. But… here’s the thing: every life has its end. I know that's kinda sad, but that's why we've got to live life to its fullest in the time we have.”

By now, tears were welling up in the eyes of his friends. Even Shadow, who rarely shows emotion, had tears slowly rolling down his cheeks.

“At least, that’s what I figure.” He gave another faint grin as his eyes began to water.

“I wanted to tell you all because I’m beginning to realize we never truly know how much time we have left in this life. And I think it’s best that we stick together until the very end, just like we’ve always done. Cliche, I know, but it’s true. Really.”

“Sonic…” Tails blubbered.

“C’mere, guys,” Sonic beckoned them.

They all embraced Sonic, but gently as to not dislodge any of the tubes inserted into him.

“Whoop, I forgot I had these in here,” the blue hero confessed to himself.

“Well, we better get going,” Amy finally said after a period of silence. “Take care, Sonic.”

“See ya, Ames. See ya, Tails. Silver. Buddy. Shads. Knux.”

As his friends all filed out, Sonic looked up at the ceiling and lost himself in his thoughts.

It will never be easy, he knew, to move on from the past and that he would never truly fully recover from his trauma. But he had to keep pushing forward if he wanted to see the sun rise tomorrow. He still has a long, long road ahead of him. But he’s come so far that it’s hard to imagine that he’s still so far away from his ultimate goal of being able to look back and move on, but to never forget. And most of all, that his friends were willing to make sacrifices if it meant he would be alright.

As Sonic grew drowsier and began to doze off, he heard an unfamiliar voice in his head putting him to sleep with a soothing lullaby for a hero that had paid the most brutal price to save his planet.

He was going to be okay. It was going to be okay.

And, for the first time in a long time, he looked forward for what tomorrow had in store for him. And he was no longer afraid of the future. He was no longer worried.

He never feared the fall.


	14. Short Epilogue: Five Years Later

Sonic eventually recovered fully from his health scare and continued to work on bettering himself. His friends kept pushing for him to succeed, and Sonic’s world was beginning to look brighter again.

One day, he, Tails, and Amy were sitting on a park bench. As they watched the trees sway in the wind, Sonic couldn’t help but think about how far he had come. This was a battle tougher than anything else he had ever gone through. But he had made it. His friends never lost faith in him, and to Sonic that was the most important thing of all. If he didn’t have such supportive friends, he thought, who knows if he would even be here today?

“Amy? Tails?”

They both turned to Sonic when he pulled both of them into his embrace.

“Thank you.”

The other two said nothing and wrapped their arms around the blue hero.

“Thank you for everything, guys.”

* * *

**The End.**

* * *

 


End file.
